New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was
incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had
originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and
continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered
in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the
surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge
and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather
inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The
survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only
twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The
Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which
the Gang originated, expired in April 1978. However, the Krazy Gang's
Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986. Calculator Kid survived a little longer, his run of reprints coming to an end in the 26 July 1986 edition and leaving Mustapha Million as the sole Cheeky Weekly survivor.
Following
Joker's infiltration of Mustapha's strip in Whizzer and Chips dated 12 December 1987, our middle eastern mate was untroubled by raiders until the edition dated 13 February 1988. Can you spot the sneaky interloper? The raider will shop himself below.
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Whizzer and Chips 13 February 1988
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Yes, it's the resourceful retailer
Bloggs, from the Store Wars strip. Sometimes it's clear that the raider has been pasted-in to the page, but on this occasion it looks to me as though Frank McDiarmid drew the infiltrator himself, as he obviously designed the panel to allow space for the Whizz-kid's (hardly a kid, I know) prominent appearance.
I wondered whether Bloggs' presence indicates that the scene takes place on the street in which his shop is located, but as Mustapha owns all the retailers on the rain-swept road, it clearly doesn't. Maybe Bloggs' shop is in an adjacent thoroughfare and he's just nipped out to survey the competition. I would imagine Mustapha's generous nature means the prices charged in his shops are very reasonable.
The sagacious shopkeeper had previously raided our middle eastern mate way back in
Whizzer and Chips dated 04 May 1985.
More raiding fun soon!
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